Empower this, doll

To launch the reality TV show “Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll,” coming to The CW in March, the network trotted out Lil’ Kim–fully clothed. In what turned out to be the liveliest session of the day, she and her fellow producers tried vainly to convince critics that the Pussycats are not a raunchy burlesque group luring young girls to value their sexuality above all else.
Of course it’s fine if you want to dress up like a doll and try out. It’s great if you accept the call to “find your inner pussycat.” But when the producers try to sell this thing as somehow “empowering to women” and “aspirational” for the nation’s females, it all falls apart.
All together now! “Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?
Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me?”
Producer Ron Fair tried to sell the idea that there’s no difference between the Pussycat Dolls and the Ziegfeld Follies.
“There’s nothing slutty about it, there’s nothing skanky about it,” said Lil’ Kim, who spent last year in prison.
Sorry, we’re not convinced.[photopress:DSC01424.JPG,thumb,pp_image]

Joanne Ostrow has been watching TV since before "reality" required quotation marks. "Hill Street Blues" was life-changing. If Dickens, Twain or Agatha Christie were alive today, they'd be writing for television. And proud of it.